New Mexico Field Technician - Riverscape Restoration

NM- Santa Clara Pueblo

Application for students currently enrolled in the Beaver Institute. Part time opportunity to work alongside Anabranch Solutions conducting LTPBR restoration as part of the Santa Clara Pueblo Restoration Project. The project is located within Espanola, NM on the Santa Cruz River. Hitches will take place on May 5th-12th and May 19th-26th. The application deadline is April 17th.

About Anabranch Solutions, LLC

Our What : We transform riverscapes that were once degraded and vulnerable into healthy and thriving ecosystems through simple, cost-effective, low-tech process-based restoration actions that kickstart recovery and self-sustaining fluvial and ecological processes. Once these processes are set in motion, the footprint of the recovery spreads well beyond the footprint of the restoration actions.

Our Why: At Anabranch Solutions, we aspire to a future where people hold deep respect for and engage in stewardship of rivers, enabling these vital ecosystems and their surrounding communities to reach their full potential.

About the role

We are currently seeking traveling team members for our stream restoration and monitoring crew! The restoration crews travel in teams of 5-10 people building and monitoring low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) structures. These structures will include Beaver Dam Analogs and Post-Assisted Log Structures. Restoration crews will spend their season outdoors; living and working in remote locations throughout the west.

Field life is rugged and rewarding. Crew members will be living in remote locations - often with limited amenities. Crews will meet at job sites or other pre-determined locations before each hitch, and should primarily expect to camp at each worksite during the hitch. However, Anabranch will provide travel trailers, short-term rental housing, or hotel stays when possible during on-hitch time, location dependent. Accommodations are available during hitch, and typically dorm-style living with communal meal prep, shared kitchens, and shared sleeping quarters. Teams will travel often - generally moving to a new project site for each hitch.

Work schedules are typically eight day hitches of 10-hour shifts followed by six days off. Sometimes hitch schedules may be adjusted to four 10-hour shifts followed by three days off, or five 8-hour shifts followed by two days off when necessary. All necessary camping gear (other than sleeping bags) as well as all necessary safety gear, waders, and wading boots will be provided. Additionally, per diem is afforded to the group for family-style grocery shopping and meal preparation.

What you'll do

The primary job duties are to locally acquire natural building materials (e.g., brush, woody debris, & rock), stage said materials, and construct beaver dam analogs (BDAs), post-assisted log structures (PALS), and other low-tech structures for riverscape restoration projects. Constructing BDAs and PALS entails cutting and hauling slash to degraded streams, constructing in stream structures, and pounding posts via hydraulic post pounder to lock everything in place. Construction utilizes a variety of tools, including but not limited to: hand tools, chainsaws, grip hoists, hydraulic post pounders, ATV/UTVs, trailers, and more.

Qualifications

• Ability and willingness to learn in the field and in trainings
• Ability to work safely in remote and adverse conditions
• Flexibility with ever-changing schedules
• Willingness to travel
• Ability to work in a team environment
• Ability to communicate clearly and regularly
• Positive attitude
• Willingness to follow instructions
• Self-motivated with situational awareness
• Comfort with manual labor and/or physical exertion
• Must be able to safely lift and carry 55 pounds; packing heavy loads of equipment in and out of sites is often required
• A valid driver's license
• Eligibility to work in the United States

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with LTPBR
• Experience in related maintenance, construction, monitoring or management activities such as conservation corps, fire-fighting, riparian planting, landscaping, trail maintenance or construction, forest thinning, arboriculture and/or logging

Benefits

• Paid sick leave accrual
• Overtime eligible
• Time-and-a-half pay for worked company holidays
• Group meal per-diem
• Employee discount programs
• SEP-IRA Retirement plan (after 3 years of employment)
• ICHRA contributions

Important Dates

• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications and positions are open until filled.